i6 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 1913 
the color when seen in a mass upon the roof. This same result 
may be produced artificially by the use of two or three colors of 
stain, nearly enough related to be harmonious; if some of the roof 
shingles are dipped in each color and then mixed all together and 
the carpenters make selection merely for size as they are laying 
them upon the roof, good results are obtained. In the course of 
a. year the roof wears into a pleasing softness of tone that for¬ 
ever prevents the color from seeming to be aggressive and over¬ 
powering the rest of the building. Such color combinations as a 
weathered gray, a moss green and a brighter yellow or green can 
be mixed in proportions to produce 
the general effect of a lichen-covered 
roof; and such colors as browns, reds 
and yellows may be mixed to get the 
general effect of the uneven coloring 
of a tile roof, for instance. The ef¬ 
fect of the purplish sea-green slate 
roof can be nearly simulated in shin¬ 
gles, provided that color scheme seems 
desirable to the designer of the dwell¬ 
ing. In fact, the variety at hand is in¬ 
finite. 
In certain sections of the country 
some stains combine with rain water 
to react upon roof flashing, so that 
the metal is eaten out very rapidly, 
and leaks result from that cause. In 
some cases an acid is formed that also 
affects the metal gutters and con¬ 
ductors and eats them away. A zinc 
flashing will last as long in the shingle 
roof as the wood material, and cop¬ 
per flashings are generally an unnec¬ 
essary expense without any resulting 
benefit to the owner. Of course, the 
reverse is true of the flashings to be 
used on roofs constructed of such per¬ 
manent materials as slate or tile. 
Next let us consider slate, as 
shis is generally the material next 
available in the price scale. It is 
not generally understood that 
neither slate nor tile, of them¬ 
selves, makes tight roofs. The 
crevices that occur in between are 
so large and open that snow will 
creep up under the courses in cold 
weather and melt the next warm 
spell, so entering the house be¬ 
neath unless some preventive is 
taken. The same is even more 
true of the tile than of the slate. 
Therefore it is necessary, in using 
either material, to have a heavy 
paper coating with well-lapped 
edges, that is of itself impervious 
to moisture, placed outside the 
boarding, and if a material of a 
certain spongy quality can be used, 
so that it will close up tightly around all nails, the best result is 
likely to be obtained. This can sometimes be done with a tar 
paper, or with certain papers, of a rubber-like consistency. Once 
the roof is made tight in this way, the outer surfacing, either of 
tile or slate, may be applied with perfect safety, and either mate¬ 
rial ensures a durability to the roof, as well as a protection, in 
case of fire on adjoining property, from the non-inflammable 
nature of the material employed, that is not the case with wood. 
A few years ago, slate, when used, was either of the densest 
and most evenly selected black, as smooth in surface and texture 
and as thin as was possible to be obtained, or—this in the period of 
the Mansard roof house — it was sometimes cut to hexagonal, dia¬ 
mond or other forms of geometrical shape, and laid in alternate 
layers or strata of contrasting colors generally such as black or 
red. To-day — largely through missionary propaganda and ad¬ 
vertising efforts, all this has been changed. The endeavor now is 
to obtain a slate roof of irregular texture, and of varied color and 
thickness. It has been shown how, in English and other foreign 
roofing of older times, the slate was 
selected and laid so that the heavier 
larger pieces were around the eaves 
and then were nicely graduated in 
size and thickness as the roof neared 
the ridge course, where the smallest 
and thinnest slates were used. Thus 
beauty was obtained from irregularly 
cut slate, in the resulting charm of tex¬ 
ture and softening of shadows upon 
the roof. A method of mixing slate 
so as to use the varying colors of dif¬ 
ferent qualities upon the same roof, 
is by employing mottled purple and 
green with the solid purple and green 
slate, for instance, to blend the two 
colors together, or gray and green 
upon the same roof, along with other 
combinations available within the 
scope of the material. Of course, 
either of these methods adds expense 
of assorting and handling, and this 
expense is increased when an attempt 
is made to grade and select the slates 
for varying rows for their thickness 
and size. 
It is true that the effect of a “mixed 
slate’’ roof may be obtained at a less 
expense by the use of “fading” 
slate, generally of little thickness, 
when after a few years consider¬ 
able variety of tones in the vari¬ 
ous slates will be brought out from 
the action of the air alone, but in 
this case there is some uncertainty 
as to the final result, and often 
some slate turns a most unpleasant 
rusty yellow. This makes the 
cheapest form of slate roof. Of 
course, the cost of the slate also 
increases directly as its thickness 
is increased. The commercial 
slate is generally of thickness, 
3/16" being sometimes marketed; 
but unless the material is very firm 
in texture, this thickness is likely 
to break or crack, when various 
slates may drop off of the roof and 
give an opportunity for the weath¬ 
er to penetrate the house below. 
We sometimes see a small cottage with slates of enormous 
thickness, entirely out of scale with the design employed on the 
roof. At other times we see slates for five or six rows in one 
size, and then suddenly change to a 2" or 1" less exposure for 
the next five or six rows, producing a distressing crudity of effect 
because the difference is immediately apparent to the eye. In 
(Continued on page 68) 
Flat tile or shingle tile is used to good effect, is very 
adaptable and is less weight than the ordinary type 
The slight irregularity in the laying of the old tile roof produced 
interesting texture effects 
